ThunderCats Live-Action Movie Casting Henry Cavill Would Get 1 Important Thing Right About Lion-O

The ThunderCats live-action movie casting Henry Cavill as Lion-O would make sense as it would get one important detail about the famous character right. The ThunderCats franchise started in 1985 with the release of its animated television series featuring a group of cat-like humanoid aliens, and the series ran for four years before being canceled. There have been multiple animated ThunderCats reboot shows since then, and even a failed live action movie in 2010 that never got greenlit. However, another ThunderCats live-action movie was confirmed to be in development in 2021 by Godzilla vs. Kong’s director, Adam Wingard.

While there are many things the ThunderCats live-action must include to honor the ‘80s cartoon, according to Wingard, he is striving to make the movie accurate to the original series. In an exclusive interview with ScreenRant, the director talked about the ThunderCats movie reboot, claiming that it was “my biggest dream growing up, to make a ThunderCats movie” and “I’d want to bring to life the exact design from the ‘80s version.” Although ThunderCats does not have a release date or confirmed cast, a live-action ThunderCats fan trailer has cast Henry Cavill as Lion-O, which makes a lot of sense.

Henry Cavill Would Bring The Physicality That ThunderCats’ Lion-O Needs

Cavill Has Proven His Skillset In Other Roles

Henry Cavill is a great fan cast for Lion-O as he would bring the physicality that the ThunderCats character needs. Due to his muscular figure, Henry Cavill has starred in many action movies and TV shows, including his famous role in The Witcher. As Geralt, Cavill’s physique was shown off particularly in the Netflix series, proving that he has the physicality that fits Lion-O. In ThunderCats, Lion-O is portrayed as a muscular lion-like figure, which makes a live-action casting hard as it would require a unique casting choice that fits the animated character, but Cavill would be a good choice.

But it is not just Lion-O’s looks that will need to be considered in the live-action ThunderCats movie, as the cartoon contains a lot of action that will require the actor to perform physical stunts. Cavill once again looks like a good choice as he has proven his stunt abilities throughout his filmography, such as in Mission: Impossible – Fallout’s bathroom stunt. The scene required Cavill to fight in close quarters in a sparsely decorated bathroom that provided focus on the fight. Furthermore, with Cavill’s previous experience in swordsmanship (The Witcher), he could be worthy of wielding Lion-O’s Sword of Omens.

Casting The ThunderCats For The Live-Action Movie Will Not Be Easy

ThunderCats Will Need Better CGI Characters Than Cats

As Wingard wants to honor the original ThunderCats cartoon, casting for the live-action movie will not be easy. In ThunderCats, every character has a unique and wild character design, and the locations are larger than life. Thus, accommodating this in a live-action setting will prove a challenge. Some animation to live-action adaptation movies, such as Dragonball Evolution, have been awful as they struggle to mimic the physics-defying character design reflected in the cartoon TV shows. Therefore, ThunderCats may struggle to pull off the characters’ looks through CGI, as it will want to avoid the weird CGI characters seen in Cats.

ThunderCats may need to utilize practical effects, such as makeup and prosthetics, to provide the characters’ wild aesthetics and avoid making a movie purely from CGI. However, there is a worry that the movie will not be able to pull this off. There are many animated movies and shows that fans hope won’t have a live-action adaptation as a result of the difficulties in translating the formats, but many seem hopeful for a live-action ThunderCats movie, especially as Wingard’s previous project, Godzilla vs. Kong, provides evidence of impressive CGI characters and a well-utilized story that contributed to its 91% Popcornmeter.

Cavill Is Fancast In A Lot Of Roles, But He Would Actually Be Great As Lion-O

Henry Cavill Has The Looks And The Skills

There have been numerous fancasts for Henry Cavill, causing people to often reject the casting for his overuse, but the Lion-O casting makes sense. After rising to international fame for his highly rated Superman role, Cavill has been a favorite to cast in many different movies, with one of the strangest fancasts coming from conceptual artwork portraying Henry Cavill as Magneto in a live-action X-Men ’97. Cavill’s tendency to be fancast has even resulted in a cameo as Wolverine in Marvel’s 2024 blockbuster, Deadpool vs. Wolverine, after years of fans vying for the actor to reboot the iconic role.

However, Henry Cavill would actually be great as ThunderCats’ Lion-O as he has the physique and skillset to do the role justice. The 1985 ThunderCats version of Lion-O even looks like the actor, with his prominent chin and angular face, so it is not hard to see why people have fancast Cavill in this role. Yet Cavill’s Lion-O casting seems unlikely as Cavill’s many upcoming movies and TV shows may render the actor too busy. As it has been 3 years since the live-action ThunderCats movie was announced, hopefully, there will be more information released soon regarding its cast list.

Thundercats

Thundercats is a multimedia franchise that started in 1985 with Tobin “Ted” Wolf’s series about a team of cat-like humanoid aliens protecting their planet. Like many animated TV shows in the ’80s, the series was released simultaneously with a line of toys. Since the ’80s, the Thundercats franchise has expanded to video games, comics, and more TV shows. 

Created by

Tobin Wolf

First Episode Air Date

September 9, 1985

Cast

Bob McFadden , Larry Kenney , Earl Hammond , Earle Hyman , Lynne Lipton , Peter Newman , Gerrianne Raphael , Doug Preis , Víctor Trujillo